Are We Lost Yet?

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I have an update on Are We Lost Yet?

The Candy Man Rescues Mystery Castle

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The Hua’Pal Loop Trail

The Hua’Pal Loop trail is so new it doesn’t show up on City of Phoenix trail maps. Part of it used to be the Ma Ha Tuak Trail (not to be confused with the Ma Ha Tuak Perimeter Trail – which is also partly new) of the T-bone trail depending upon which map you are looking at. The other half charges straight up the mountain – and that’s where we start. This article is part of an ongoing series…

The Hua’Pal Loop Trail

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The Ma Ha Tuak Perimeter Trail

Near as I can determine, you pronounce Ma Ha Tuak just as written. It shares the name of the mountain range it partially circles, and the older Ma Ha Tuak Trail, a connector trail that goes due south up the mountain. They are both well marked. Seek the word “Perimeter”. The Ma Ha Tuak Perimeter Trail, in its entirety, connects the 19th Ave Trailhead with the San Juan Lookout a distance of 7.8…

The Ma Ha Tuak Perimeter Trail

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A few notes from the Overland Expo

Full disclosure: I am not actually an Overlander guy and I doubt I would become one even if I had the money. It just doesn’t take that much to get off of the beaten path. However, many others see it differently, and the market that emerged from this worldview created the Overland Expo which was recently encamped in…

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The Bajada Trail - main

A bajada is the mound of run-off sediment skirting the edge of the mountain. It is not quite Spanish for “Alluvial Fan”, but they are functionally the same thing. The Bajada Trail winds up and across its namesake across the San Juan Valley in the Phoenix South Mountain preserve. Or, rather, the main western portion des this. The eastern third of the trail is basically a connector trail we have…

The Bajada Trail - main

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Rediscovering the old Apache Trail

Photo taken circa 1910. Arizona State Library The Apache Trail has re-opened, and one hot September 2024 Sunday, my son and I found ourselves with no obligations we could not avoid. Being too hot to hike (daytime highs never sank below 95 the entirety of September in 2024) (God – I hope that’s a remarkable sentence in the future) my son suggested that I should drive. Because the AC in my 2015…

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Golden Bear West Peak tent review

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Pond to pond across Marshall Lake

Photo by Ben Padegimas. Yes, that’s me. Marshall Lake is a small, marshy pond, really, just south of Flagstaff. Its’ reedy shores are full of birds, and the forested hills around it are full of dispersed campers. Arizona does not have many natural lakes, but Marshall Lake is one of them. It’s really only a lake at its rare high water mark. At normal levels it is a series of connected ponds.…

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San Juan Lookout

Bongo at the San Juan Lookout As late as 2015, this small parking lot, complete with a remnant CCC ramada, was reachable by vehicle whenever the park was open. In the day, this was primarily trailhead parking for three main trails: The National or Maricopa trail, the Bajada Trail, and the Alta Trail. To the east, you can see downtown Phoenix through the saddle, but there are honestly better…

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The Alta Trail

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The abandoned Holbert Lookout (I think)

I can’t call it the Lost Lookout, as cool as that sounds, because you can see it from the street. Bongo found the lookout. As I stare at the Phoenix South Mountain Preserve, the ridgetop immediately east of Dobbins Lookout also has a stone structure upon it that I can see from my house. As a side-quest to the Holbert Trail I decided to seek it out. To reach it, I followed the Holbert Trail…

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The Holbert Trail

When you have friends or relations in from out-of-town and they say that they want to hike up South Mountain – and you are satisfied that they understand what “hike” and “up” really mean in this context – you want Holbert Trail. It is also worth doing on its own merits. This hike is part of my Phoenix South Mountain Preserve Collection. One of several park things named for Charles M Holbert,…

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Los Lomitas Trail

Los Lomitas Trail in South Mountain Preserve is the connector trail between the middle of the developed picnic lands and the giant parking lot that separates the conference center from the group picnic grounds. It is the third and final leg of my South Mountain Infrastructure Loop. For all that, this trail is worth doing on its own. Because this is part of the loop, we start in the middle of the…

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Max Delta Trail

Max Delta is an entry level trail through the entrance of the preserve. It is named after the mine shaft that lies buried and officially off limits towards its southern terminus. That is another article. This is just about the trail. This trail is part of the Infrastructure Vista Loop Hike. From the trailhead at the entrance (across from Scorpion Gulch) the flat, wide trail winds west then…

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Scorpion Gulch

Near the main park entrance stand the stone remains of Scorpion Gulch. Visitors are free to wander in and around the two stone buildings and the dirt area between them. It is quite popular for photography, especially at sunset. William Lundsford – Phoenix Gazette 1966 Scorpion Gulch was built as the home and the storefront of William Lundsford, who first came here with the CCC. Lundsford…

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The South Mountain Infrastructure Vista Loop

This is a half-day hike within the Phoenix South Mountain Preserve. This is a sub-hub for that overall hub page. This half-day hike combines three established trails and a bit of mild bushwhacking  to make a circuit of the south-central portion of the park, where most of the development is located. As described, the circuit takes the Max Delta trail south and west to its junction with the Bajada…

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My Danchel tent is really a teepee but not a teepee.

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